TRURO - Just a few more minutes.
That's all the Cobequid Cougars feel they would have needed to beat the Dr. John Hugh Gillis Royals Wednesday in their high school girls basketball contest at CEC.
But the Cougars didn't get it, and fell 55-50 to their Antigonish-based rivals.
"After the game a lot of the girls said if we had just two more minutes we could have won," said Grade 11 guard Lauren Sinclair, who led her team with 22 points.
The setback drops the Cougars to 4-15 overall on the season.
Sinclair said she and her teammates were disappointed with the result.
"It's hard because we had home floor and to get a win over them before regionals would have been good but we have a couple tournaments coming up and so hopefully we'll see them again."
Victoria Dennis netted seven points for the Cougars while Sara Densmore and Felicia Gero each collected five. Kallyn Morgan dropped four points and Alicia MacKinnon and Carly Totten rounded out the scoring with two points apiece.
The contest was a bit of a see-saw affair. The Cougars started off slow and allowed the Royals to open a lead before closing the gap just before halftime. The cycle repeated in the second half. The Cougars trailed by 10 points to start the fourth quarter, and closed to within five.
"We just need to find some consistency," said Cougars coach Darren Gerrior. "There were times we had a good stretch and times where we were on the wrong end of it. We just need to play a consistent game with intensity."
Gerrior said that was the difference in the contest.
"They were just more consistent overall," he said.
The coach said his team needs to improve its game on both sides of the ball.
"We need to be a little more sharp on offence and defence," he said. "We're lacking just that little bit."
Case in point. The Cougars held the Royals to just 55 points, which would typically give any team a chance to win. But the Cougars missed some easy baskets, while giving up a few easy ones.
Sinclair said that comes down to communicating better.
"We just have to be aware of where everyone is on the floor," she said.
The Cougars are taking part in a tournament at Horton this weekend and have a game next week before breaking for exams and the downhill run to regionals.
"So there's still time to work on things," Gerrior said. "We're going through a bit of a choppy patch right now but once we work on some of those things we'll be right back on track."